No headway on promises

13/05/2018

The PDP-BJP Coalition Government has completed three years in office yet majority of the commitments made in the Developmental Agenda have remained unfulfilled much to the disappointment of the common masses. Keeping in view the prevailing situation, translating these promises into reality in the left over period is really a daunting task for both the alliance partners.While joining hands to formulate Coalition Government in the State following fractured mandate in 2014 Assembly elections, PDP and BJP had prepared Agenda of Alliance (AoA) and on numerous occasions both the coalition partners dubbed AoA as a 'sacred document' and a commitment to the people of all the three regions of the State. Different goals were set under Agenda of Alliance vis-à-vis Governance Reforms, Social and Humanitarian Initiatives and Developmental Agenda etc. Thereafter, different Groups of Ministers (GoMs) were constituted for implementation of commitments made under different heads of the Agenda of Alliance.As far as Developmental Agenda is concerned, majority of the commitments have remained unfulfilled even after completion of half of the term of the Coalition Government thereby raising resentment among the common masses, who had initially lauded the initiative of framing Agenda of Alliance by the coalition partners. Now, the people have apprehensions whether the present regime will be able to respect the 'sacred document' in the left over period.The Government had assured in the Developmental Agenda that modalities will be worked out for transfer of Dulhasti and Uri hydroelectric projects to J&K as suggested in the Rangarajan Committee and Round Table Reports. However, no headway has been made in this regard during the past three years although issue was raised with the Union Power Ministry on some occasions. During the State Legislature Sessions held so far, this issue was vociferously raised by the Opposition MLAs a number of times but every time only 'vague' statement mentioning that Government was committed to bring back the projects was made by the Ministers of both the alliance partners. Moreover, no progress has been made on restructuring and strengthening Chenab Valley Power Projects Limited (CVPPL) as holding company for all hydro power projects in the State. However, no such mechanism has been worked out so far and allocation of financial resources is being made on the old pattern and similar is the fate of commitments regarding developing two mega cities-Greater Srinagar and Greater Jammu and upgrading all towns with population size of 30,000 to 99,999 into cities". As far as commitment regarding developing Jammu as an independent tourist circuit is concerned, none of the projects has been brought to the completion during the past three years and Jammu Ropeway and Artificial Lake are the testimonies of the same and several vital spots like Parmandal-Utterbehni, Surinsar-Mansar, Bani-Sarthal, Rajouri-Poonch (seven lakes) have yet not received the due attention so far although it was stated in the Developmental Agenda that these places will be given top priority.